Rusty Swan-neck Moss - Campylopus flexuosus

A very variable species, usually forming dark green tufts or patches, the stems often matted with red-brown rhizoids, with the shoots varying in height, sometimes up to 8 cm tall, but normally much less. The leaves are 2 to 7 mm long, straight and erect, but in some forms can be curved and pointing in one direction when moist. When dry, the upper leaves in particular become distinctly wavy. The leaf narrows only very gradually near the base and then tapers to a long tip composed largely of nerve; the nerve can occupy up to 60% of the width of the leaf near the base, but is usually narrower than this. The cells at the basal corners are normally distinct and red-brown. Clusters of short-leaved deciduous branchlets are sometimes found at the tip of the shoots. Capsules are occasional, but can be abundant on some stands, and have a strongly curved seta.

Grows in a variety of acidic habitats, and is equally at home in shaded or exposed sites. Typical sites include open peat, rotting stumps and logs, peaty ledges on wet rocks, wet acidic crags in the mountains, and in ravines, on boulders in scree and occasionally on trees.

All year round.

Widespread and fairly frequent in Britain.

Status in Leicestershire and Rutland not known.